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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676085">There's Something Wrong with my Friend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressofKingfishers/pseuds/EmpressofKingfishers'>EmpressofKingfishers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Horror, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Self-Harm, Suicide, Supernatural Elements, horrorstory, offscreen but mentioned suicide</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:53:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,838</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676085</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressofKingfishers/pseuds/EmpressofKingfishers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I got a disturbing call from my friend, and I'm really worried about him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>There's Something Wrong with my Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I got a call from my childhood friend, Nathan. He had withdrawn from the group chat, and we were all worried about him. I picked up the call, glad that he had reached out for me first.</p><p>“Jonas,” his voice was weak, and he sounded defeated, “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. I… I just wanted to call and tell you that you were a good friend.”</p><p>“Nathan?” I became alarmed and started racing through the house, pulling on my shoes, jacket, and looked for my car keys. “Nathan, what’s going on? Are you alright? Don’t do anything until I get there, ok? Just hang on.” I reached for the doorknob.</p><p>“Don’t come,” Nathan’s voice was almost a whisper, “It’s too dangerous.”</p><p>Click.</p><p>Cursing under my breath, I raced to my car and scrambled inside. Driving through several red lights, worse case scenarios ran through my head. What would I find at his townhouse? His body hanging from the ceiling? Slit wrists? An overdose? He said it was dangerous, so maybe it was a home invasion turned deadly? Or a gas leak? Monoxide poisoning? Shit, that’s how people kill themselves, right? Should I call the police? No, it might be a false alarm.</p><p>Although dangerous and stupid, I texted our group chat to let them know about the troubling call while I was driving. I promised to update them when I got to Nathan’s house.</p><p>Honestly, I had no idea what I was expecting when I pulled in front of his house. The houses next door all seemed normal, as did Nathan’s house. Although the curtains were pulled down, I could see there were lights on. I stared at the house for a few seconds, trying to see if there were any hints of trouble. Maybe the door being busted, or windows left ajar. Hell, I was hoping to see a sign that said ‘Can’t answer the door, I’m dead’ on the small walking path.</p><p>But no, it just looked like a normal townhouse.</p><p>I climbed out of the car and swiftly walked to the front door. I started knocking, wincing from the slight pain that shot from my knuckles. I was knocking rather hard, hoping the noise would prevent Nathan from doing anything rash.</p><p>‘<em>If he’s still alive</em>,’ a tiny voice in my head whispered. I ignored the intrusive thought and knocked even louder.</p><p>Several seconds passed. I put my ear against the door, hoping to hear movement that indicated Nathan was approaching the door.</p><p>Several more seconds went by.</p><p>Then a minute passed.</p><p>I knocked one last time, then stepped away from the door.</p><p>Right as I was about to kick the front door, FBI style, the door swung open, revealing Nathan on the other side.</p><p>“… Jonas?” he asked, sounding surprised, “What’re you doing here?”</p><p>“Are you forgetting that you called me a few minutes ago?” I asked, shocked. “The way you spoke made me think you were about to kill yourself!”</p><p>“O-Oh, that? I was feeling a bit down and wanted to talk to you. Let you know you were a good friend and all that. I wasn’t going to kill myself.” Nathan scratched his head, looking both embarrassed and annoyed. “I feel kind of bad, now. How about you come in?”</p><p>Now I was the one to feel annoyed. He left such a troubling message, made me rush over here, speeding through red lights, and tells me the message was nothing? But I decided not to say anything. If he was feeling depressed, I didn’t want to make him feel worse by telling him how I rushed over here.</p><p>“What were you feeling down about?” I asked.</p><p>Nathan shrugged, “Just life in general, I guess.” He led me to the small family room. “Sorry I made you come all the way here,” he added. “But I am glad you came by. It’s nice knowing there are people out there who care about me, you know? Want something to drink?”</p><p>“Just water,” I said, “We can just, talk if you want to.”</p><p>“… We can do that,” Nathan said after a pause, walking to the kitchen. Because the kitchen was next to the family room, with only a counter to divide the rooms, we could still talk to each other without raising our voices. I watched as he poured me a cup of water and grabbed himself a beer. “Here you go,” he walked back and handed me the cup. Using a bottle opener, he opened the beer and sat down on the armchair he had gotten from his parents. With a cheesy grin, he raised the bottle towards me, “Too good friends.”</p><p>I raised the cup of water, echoing, “To good friends,” and took a sip. I looked back at Nathan in time to see him grimace upon taking his first sip of beer. “Something wrong?”</p><p>“It’s… it’s nothing,” he said, clearing his throat, “I just haven’t had a beer in a while so…”</p><p>I raised an eyebrow. Nathan drank beer every three days, and there was no way a three-day break could have that strong of a reaction. “You must have been feeling really down if you haven’t been drinking. Did something happen to make you this upset?”</p><p>“You remember when Julia and I broke up?” Nathan asked. When I nodded, he continued, “Well, last week, I got a package and letter from her. The letter she wrote was basically blaming me for our breakup. How I was a shitty boyfriend, that I didn’t provide enough support or trusted her enough.”</p><p>“But you were a good boyfriend! You did everything for her!” I said, appalled.</p><p>Nathan shrugged again. “Honestly, I thought the same. But who knows, maybe I wasn’t really attentive enough for her. Reading the letter just made me feel like shit.”<br/>
“What was the package?” I asked.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You just said you also got a package from Julia. What was it?”</p><p>“Oh… it was…” he hid behind another sip of beer, “Nothing much. Just an old t-shirt and jewelry I had given to her while we were dating. I guess that’s also what made me feel bad. The fact she didn’t even want to hold onto or sell the jewelry.”</p><p>“Maybe I can take the jewelry off your hands,” I suggested, “I know my sisters would gladly take them.”</p><p>For a split second, Nathan looked like a deer caught in headlights, “I um… I don’t have the jewelry anymore,” he admitted, “I sold it to a thrift shop.” He placed the beer bottle down and got up, “I’ll be right back,” he said, “Need to use the bathroom.” He hurriedly left the room.</p><p>Sighing, I put my cup of water down and pulled out my phone.</p><p>The group chat was filled with questions about what was going on with Nathan. I sent them a text, updating them that while Nathan was ok, he was acting a bit odd. I told them, ‘I think he’s depressed’ to brush off their concern over his behavior. ‘I’ll let you know if anything else happens’ I promised them.</p><p> </p><p>Nathan and I sat in silence, watching a 1980s movie on his old tv. After Nathan came back, I had asked if he wanted to talk some more about how he was feeling. But Nathan shook his head no and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels until he settled on the channel we were currently watching.</p><p>“Bathroom break,” I told Nathan, getting up from the sofa.</p><p>Nathan grunted, not really acknowledging me but not exactly ignoring me.</p><p>As I made my way to the bathroom, I paused. Something nagged the back of my mind, but I couldn’t figure what it was. It wasn’t until I entered the bathroom did I notice.</p><p>The mirror that hung above the sink was gone. But that wasn’t the only missing thing. In the hallway, there were usually framed photos of friends and family hanging from the walls. But instead, only the frames remained. I hadn’t noticed at first because I was so used to seeing the picture frames and didn’t pay attention to what the frames were… weren’t holding. I decided not to make any comments about the missing things to Nathan when I returned. I didn’t want to seem rude or… I don’t know, overreacting.</p><p>What I did say, however, was “Do you have a headache?”</p><p>Nathan was leaning forwards, his face buried in his hands. He groaned, a yes, I think, and didn’t look up when I approached him.</p><p>“Do you have any painkillers?” I asked. Nathan shook his head no. “Want me to go out and get some?” Another shake of his head. “… should I leave?”<br/>
“It’ll go away in a minute or two,” Nathan managed to get out, his voice sounding slightly strange, “I’ll be fine. We can still hang out together.”</p><p>He looked up at me, and for a second, his expression seemed different. But when I blinked, he was back to normal. There had been hunger in his eyes like it was entirely someone else behind those brown eyes. It reminded me of an animal fueled by hunger and its need to hunt. ‘<em>You should probably get out of here</em>,’ the tiny voice in the back of my head whispered, ‘<em>Before it’s too late</em>.’</p><p>“It is time for me to leave,” I said, glancing at my phone screen. It was already 8pm. “I’m keeping you from resting, and you’re not feeling well. I’ll head out, now. The others in the group chat are pretty worried about you. You should let them know you’re ok.” I walked to the door, already putting my coat back on.</p><p>“You don’t have to leave just yet,” Nathan protested, following me. “I’m perfectly fine, the headache has gone away. Come on, Jonas.”</p><p>Feeling guilty, I ignored his pleading, said, “Bye, Nathan,” and reached for the doorknob, turned it, and pulled on the door.</p><p>But the door didn’t give way. Confused, I looked down, expecting the door to be locked. But it wasn’t, it was unlocked. A feeling of panic crept its way up my spine, and I frantically jiggled the doorknob, praying that the door would open.</p><p>I almost screamed when Nathan’s hot breath blew against my neck. I could smell the metallic scent of blood coming from Nathan. How did I not notice that before? “I said you don’t have to leave,” Nathan said, “You came to check on me, right? If you walk out that door right now, there’s no guarantee you’ll see me ever again. You’ll be the last person to see me alive. Do you really want to do this, Jonas?”</p><p>I felt the blood drain from my face. Not because of the threat of suicide, but the acceptance that this wasn’t Nathan. Even if he hit the lowest of lows, he would never threaten people with suicide. His confusion over me suddenly appearing, the reaction to the beer, and that animalistic expression on his face. The letter and package were probably a lie, I realized. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly turned to face Nathan.</p><p>“Who are you?” I asked, “And what did you do to Nathan?”</p><p>“I am Nathan,” he said, “Are you really doing this to me, Jonas? This isn’t a funny, man.”</p><p>“If you’re really Nathan,” I said, “Tell me something. When did you and I first meet? Go on, prove you’re Nathan.”</p><p>Nathan, no, whoever was standing before me, opened their mouth. I could see the gears turning in their brain, desperately trying to look for the missing information. When a minute passed by with no response, I shoved them away and ran for the sliding glass door towards the back of the house, its glass door suggesting escape.</p><p>But that also was locked.<br/>
Cursing under my breath, I drew my leg back, thankful I had my heavy boots on and went to kick the glass. Before my foot could connect to the glass, something grabbed me by the jacket and yanked me down. The breath was knocked out of me, and I laid on my back, gasping for air, looking up at the person resembling Nathan, who stared down at me, a smile on their face.</p><p>“You should have minded your own business,” they told me, “Although, I suppose it's my fault, too. I should have stopped your friend from making a call. But he managed to sneak away.” Slowly, a change overcame Nathan. The life went out of his brown eyes, and suddenly, blood was dripping on my face.<br/>
Nathan’s neck was slit.</p><p>“I’ve waited a damn week,” the corpse said, its skin waxy, and its voice becoming brittle and cold. “Constantly whittling away at his mental health. Driving him crazy.” It reached down, grabbed my leg, and began dragging me across the floor. It ignored my feeble attempts at escape, barely flinching as I tried kicking at it with my free leg, and it just jerked me from stuff I desperately tried to cling onto. Blood trickled from its wrists. “Finally, he’s at his breaking point,” a particularly rough yank caused me to whap my head on the floor, “And I can tell he’s about to do it. But no, he somehow manages to find the will to sneak off. I found him and chased him to his bedroom.”</p><p>It went to the basement door and hurled me down the steps. Although only a few steps, tumbling down the stairs hurt. Shoving the pain aside, I tried to surge upwards, but the corpse leaped down and smashed my head against the basement floor.</p><p>“He first slit his wrists,” the corpse said, sounding casual about Nathan’s death, like it was retelling an amusing story it had heard, “Then his throat. He probably thought it would be quick like you see in the movies. But he didn’t cut deep enough. I made sure he couldn’t get to the knife or the phone. You know, it’s actually a blessing you came over. I have a friend who would love to have their own body. It’s not fun, being what we are. We can’t enjoy the life you humans can, so we have to forcibly take it from people who don’t deserve it.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” I hissed, “Nathan deserved to live and not die because you wanted to pretend you’re human!”</p><p>“That’s not what Julia thinks,” the corpse said, “She’s the one who brought me here. I didn’t lie about the letter, but I sure did lie about what the package held inside. A real bitch, that one is. So, my good friend. You’re a nice guy, so I’ll make your death really quick. I promise that the next host will treat your body good.”</p><p>Its cold hand touched the back of my neck, its nails digging into flesh, and it shifted slightly, leaning forwards to finish me off.</p><p>I took full advantage of it momentarily shifting itself and used my elbow to jab into its ribcage. Caught off guard, the corpse toppled over onto the ground next to me, and I sprang up, almost face planting when my head spun, but managed to righten myself, turned around, and taking several steps up the stairs.</p><p>I yelped as the corpse, it must have gotten off the floor the moment I turned my back, used its nails to slash into my legs. I heard fabric tear and kicked it in the head. I didn’t look back as I heard the body hit the basement floor. I couldn’t help Nathan. He was gone. And now, something that wasn’t human was parading around in his body.</p><p>This time, I managed to escape from the house, got into the car, and drove off. I drove at least five miles away, before pulling over and dialing 911.</p><p> </p><p>I knew no one would believe that I was attacked by some sort of monster that was wearing my friend’s face. So, instead, I told police that I had gotten a concerning call from Nathan, went over to his house, spent some time there, and was attacked by him.</p><p>According to the police, when they arrived, they found no sign of Nathan. Instead, they found broken furniture, and a bloody knife with Nathan’s blood on it. None of the neighbors heard or saw anything unusual. He just… vanished into thin air.</p><p>There were alleged sightings of Nathan being seen around our state, but before police could arrive, he was already gone. I tried contacting Julia, after all, she was the one behind this, but I couldn’t get into contact with her. Apparently, she had withdrawn from friends and family, and haven’t been seen since.<br/>
I may have walked away intact, minus some bruises and a concussion, but a part of me was no longer whole. It wasn’t my fault for what had happened, but maybe, just maybe, if I had reached out sooner, Nathan would still be with us.</p><p>But I know, deep down inside, Nathan was doomed the moment he received that mystery package.</p>
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